Algérianité was the conception of a unique "Algerianess" under French colonial rule in Algeria that encompassed an independence from the French identity, and the political ideal of an Algerian homeland. Algérianité conceives of Algerian identity as a unique blend of disparate influences contributed by settlers of differing cultural backgrounds. The blending of such diverse influences creates the new culture that is uniquely Algerian and this is called "Algérianité" (Algerianness).
Literary works
This has been the topic of several literary works exploring the relationship of diasporas to Algeria and their shared connection to collective cultural forms.
Algerian author
Assia Djebar
Fatima-Zohra Imalayen (30 June 1936 – 6 February 2015), known by her pen name Assia Djebar ( ar, آسيا جبار), was an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with obstacles faced by women, and she is noted fo ...
explored similar themes in her first fiction novel ''La Soif'' (1957). Her work centers on the Algerian cause to reclaim a national identity as independent from the contested and coexisting complex identities, some of which predate French rule in Algeria. ''La Soif'' was published during the
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
(1954-1962). According to Algerian sociology
Fanny Colonna, Djebar,
Kateb Yacine
Kateb Yacine (; 2 August 1929 or 6 August 1929 – 28 October 1989) was an Algerian writer notable for his novels and plays, both in French and Algerian Arabic, and his advocacy of the Berber cause.
Biography
Kateb Yacine was officially b ...
,
Mouloud Mammeri
Mouloud Mammeri () was an Algerian writer, anthropologist and linguist.
Biography
He was born on December 28, 1917, in Ait Yenni, in Tizi Ouzou Province, French Algeria. He attended a primary school in his native village, then emigrated to ...
and
Mohammed Dib
Mohammed Dib ( ar, محمد ديب; 21 July 1920 – 2 May 2003) was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific ...
and other Algerian authors viewed Algerian
patrimony
Patrimony may refer to:
Law
* Patrimony, or property, the total of all personal and real entitlements, including movable and immovable property, belonging to a real person or a juristic person
* Patrimony, or inheritance, a right or estate inh ...
as shared, "a truly Algerian patrimony common to francophones, berberphones and arabophones", emphasizing the shared experiences common to the Mediterranean region.
Nabile Farès (author of ''Un passager de l'Occident'' (1971) and ''Le Champs des oliviers. Découverte du monde'' (1972)) was influenced by the views of American author
James Baldwin
James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...
on multiculturalism. Baldwin viewed the United States as inherently multicultural, which helped shaped Farès' views about post-Colonial Algeria. Farès believed that modernization in Algeria would not be possible without the acceptance of Algérianité in the paradigm of a
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
that was formed of multiple nations and subject to none.
References
{{reflist
French Algeria
Multiculturalism